DETROIT – The last time the Wings got a big win over the St. Louis Blues, they came out and laid an egg the very next game.

That wasn’t the case this time around.

Detroit got a pair of power play goals and a 23-save performance from Jimmy Howard to skate by the Edmonton Oilers, 2-1, Saturday afternoon at Joe Louis Arena.

“It feels like we’re a work in progress and we gotta continue to get better,” said Wings coach Mike Babcock, whose squad last followed up a win over the Blues with a loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. “I thought we played a good game last game, came back and followed it up. Now we gotta follow it up tomorrow against a heavy team. It’s going to be a test.”

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The Wings turn right around and host the defending Stanley Cup champs, the Los Angeles Kings, Sunday afternoon.

“I just think if we remain competitive and we keep getting better, we have a chance to be a good hockey club,” Babcock said. “I think our back end’s rounding into shape here so we’re getting better.”

“It can all change back tomorrow (standings),” Henrik Zetterberg said. “It’s so many games and close schedule so you don’t keep playing well, you won’t win a playoff spot. You’ve got to keep winning games. We did the job today and we’ve got to do it tomorrow again.”

Detroit got power play goals from Pavel Datsyuk and Niklas Kronwall.

Justin Schultz scored on the power play for Edmonton, while Nikolai Khabibulin made 28 saves.

The Wings’ penalty kill came up huge, especially in the third period where they began the last 20 minutes facing over a minute of a 5-on-3. Then late in the period the Oilers failed to get off a shot on a full two minutes of 6-on-4.

“We would have loved to capitalize on that,” Schultz said. “We just didn’t click on the 5-on-3, We mobbed it better on the 6-on-4 than the 5-on-3. The biggest thing was on our entries, they didn’t make it easy for us and it was tough to set up.”

Just 2:44 into the third period, the Wings had two guys in the box – Joakim Andersson (holding) and Jakub Kindl (high stick) – for 1:07. The penalty killers’ did their job, not allowing an Edmonton shot on goal during the entire kill.

After the Wings killed off the 5-on-3, Kronwall came down and scored on the power play.

“It’s all about specialty teams right now,” Drew Miller said. “You get a big penalty kill like that and the power play feeds off that. Then they go out there and get a pretty big goal for us. All in all I think our specialty teams played very well overall.”

Just 34 seconds into the Wings’ power play, Kronwall unleashed a wrist shot from the point that eluded Khabibulin as he was being screened by Johan Franzen.

The goal was Kronwall’s 50th of his career and just the third time this season Detroit scored two power play goals in a game.

However, with 2:33 left in regulation, Franzen was sent off for closing his hand on the puck, but again the Wings didn’t allow an Oilers shot on goal.

“Specialty teams, which have been so strong this year, really deserted us,” Edmonton coach Ralph Krueger said. “We battled until the end, the guys didn’t quit, but an extremely disappointing result.

“They really played us hard,” Kruger said of the Wings’ performance. “The compete level of the Red Wings was exemplary. It’s something you need to look at and say, ‘That’s the level you want to get to.’ I thought they really came out and played desperate all the way through the game and showed us the level we need to get to. Howard was outstanding in a lot of critical situations for them.”

Howard will get the start again Sunday against the Kings.

The Wings opened the scoring midway through the second period, just as the first penalty expired on a Wings’ 5-on-3 man advantage. Datsyuk scored after getting a nice cross-ice pass from Damien Brunner. Zetterberg started the play with a pass just off the goal line to Brunner, who one-timed a tape-to-tape pass to Datsyuk and he slid a puck between Khabibulin’s legs.

The goal moved Datsyuk into 11th all-time in goals scored (244) and seventh in points (729) for the Wings. He moved ahead of Tomas Holmstrom for the goals mark and Ted Lindsey in points.

The Wings are now 30-0-4 the last 34 games when Datsyuk scores a goal.

Zetterberg also extended his point streak to three games with an assist.

Khabibulin kept the Oilers’ deficit to one with a nice pad save on Brunner on the Wings’ fifth power play of the game. After Franzen he found a streaking Brunner coming in from the right wing and his redirect was kicked out by Khabibulin.

Moments later and with Zetterberg in the box for hooking, the Oilers struck on the power play. Schultz sent a wrist shot on goal from the point that Howard never saw to even the game.

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